A positive bubble! 🎈

I’m getting fed up watching the news. It is so negative and depressing! I’m also getting sick and tired of journalists who are primarily the cause of adding to the stress and disquiet gripping the nation.

I fully understand and my heart goes out to all those who have suffered unimaginable pain over these last few months. At least we were able to have our few close family members with us at both my mother and my mother in law’s funerals. I cannot begin to imagine the pain of loved ones denied this basic human right!

But we cannot stay in lockdown forever. We have to slowly take the first intrepid steps to start rebuilding our shattered economy. Children have to go back to school.

I don’t want to politicise this awful virus. I don’t have enough knowledge to pass judgement and play the blame game. I am just getting so frustrated when the news is always finding fault with every tiny step the country is being asked to take to get us out of our prisons!

I believe there are three factions.

There are those who won’t go out until we have a vaccine or a cure. The government must continue sponsoring them. Alas, there are no money trees in Kew Gardens or anywhere else for that matter! Certain age groups of children have been urged to return to school. I cannot begin to imagine the affect this lockdown must be having on them! And how can parents go back to work when they have no childcare? Fear abounds and I feel for all those faced with this dilemma.

Then there are those who think that the government is opening up too slowly. It has become a slanging match between the two factions, fuelled by the media to gain the most publicity! Both appear to agree that the government has stopped following scientists advice. And the scientists interviewed have conflicting views! So who or what can we believe?

Then we have the third category of people who never bought into lockdown in the first place! They have gone on their merry way for the last three months, held rave parties in woods, met up in pubs behind closed doors, had their hair cut and socialised throughout! Not all are young people! I’m not being ageist!

There are more than 66 million people living in this country. How could anyone have managed to get all of them to adhere to the lockdown rules? Citing an unseen enemy and removing our freedom, as if we were living under a dictatorship, was apparently the only way to win the war and survive this pandemic! But a huge number of us did knuckle down and stay at home!

I have also seen so many acts of kindness, so much selflessness, so many normal people coming out and doing their bit for their community. Yet, on balance, the media prefer to focus on the protagonists who shout the loudest and cause the most dissension. I have seen television ‘debates’ where the reporter has not even allowed his interviewee to complete a sentence. This reporter then smirks on twitter and brags about how fearless he or she is and incites others to follow suite! All in the name of freedom of the press or is it just self glorification?

I hope that those protesting over the weekend adhered to the lockdown rules and don’t create another peak. What happened to George Floyd was truly awful and completely inexcusable. I do understand the passion this mindless, wicked act of injustice has fuelled but seriously concerned about the virus using another weapon to make a comeback! All those clamouring for their space on beaches over the long hot summer days last week hopefully stay virus free and don’t infect others.

Small islands and countries are gradually winning the war. They are being held up as shining lights! They locked down early, had testing in place immediately, tracked and traced from day one. It’s easy when you have a tiny population, huge open spaces and are prepared to obey the rules!

I’m sitting in our small television room surrounded by some of my father’s beautiful paintings. It’s quite dark and cloudy this morning. I’ll post this blog then get up from my comfortable sofa and face another new day. But, I’ve made up my mind! I’ll stop watching the news! I’ll only listen to the evening Coronavirus updates and turn off Twitter. I’ll create my own positive bubble! I have nothing to lose! This is the way I am going to win the war! 👠